Lin’s Garden

Best chinese food in westbury. This is a take out place so don’t expect anything fancy. The food and the prices, especially for lunch is what makes it a 5 star place. The lunch special comes with a combo platter and a soup, egg role, or soda for less than 6 bucks.

I almost want to give this place 4 stars just to balance out the 2-​star review before me, which I think isn’t justified. Then again, that review was posted almost a year ago so things probably have changed. When my bf and I went out for chinese take-​out last night, this place looked decent. I’ve been to much more run-​down places in my life and this is not one of them. This can’t even be considered a hole-​in-​the-​wall. It’s just your regular chinese take-​out place. So, docking one star for that is kind of unmerited in my opinion.
When it comes to restaurants, I care more about the service and food. Atmosphere is just a nice after thought and only matters if there’s something egregiously wrong (like cockroaches or rats), which there wasn’t at all. The place is decently clean. But enough about the atmosphere, onto the food an service. The food is decent. It’s definitely not authentic Chinese food, but coming in, you should already know this. Any Chinese take-​out place will probably have General Tso’s Chicken on the menu and when General Tso is on the menu, you know they’re catering to a Western audience. Still, nonetheless, the food was good for Chinese take-​out: clean, well-​cooked (the meat wasn’t over– or under-​cooked), decently seasoned, and no msg if you tell them so. My bf has a sensitive stomach and can’t handle msg, and since he lives practically across the street from this place, he’s become a regular customer out of convenience, so the people there know his dietary needs and make sure every order he makes is msg-​free.
This leads me to my review of their service. Their service is great! They’re quick, friendly, and exceptionally accommodating. My bf ordered delivery once and asked if the delivery guy could deliver the order to the window of his bedroom (being on the first floor). The guy did just that and my bf spent the entire day lazing in his bed. That’s phenomenal service right there! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a delivery guy willing to deliver to someone’s window. Just for the service, I’m tempted to bump my review up to 4 stars. I definitely consider this a 3.5 star place, though.
Also, just as a side note, if you order up to $ 20, they apparently give you two free drinks, which is a nice perk. Overall, this place is well priced and a great value. As for dishes I’d recommend… well, I’ve only been here once so far but all the dishes we got were good. The Moo Goo Gai Pan was clean and well seasoned without being over-​seasoned, the beef and broccoli was decent, and the fried dumplings were yummy (though thick enough to be buns… not sure what part of China the chef is from but probably a northern province since they’re known to be better at making buns than dumplings).
Food: ³⁄₅ — decent, not authentic Chinese but that’s not what you go to Chinese take-​out places for anyways (you go for speed and convenience)
Service: ⁴⁄₅ — quick, efficient, friendly, and exceptionally accommodating
Atmosphere: ³⁄₅ — decent, just your usual chinese take-​out place
Overall: ³⁄₅ — good
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Update: I’m docking 0.5 stars from the overall score because I just grabbed lunch from this place and (a) the fried rice is disappointing, aka. hardened, terribly seasoned, and just unappetizing so don’t get the combos, and (b) the cold sesame noodles made me a bit nauseous but it may also be because I ate that with iced tea, and sweet general tso’s chicken, which may not be a good palate blend.

The food was decent but the appearance of the place could use a big improvement. I did enjoy my lunch here, but it was nothing special.